Published: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 at 11:18 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 at 11:18 a.m.

"When we started out," said Beach Boys singer Mike Love, "we had a station wagon and a U-Haul. We had one of our cousins along to help us load and unload. We played in ballrooms and gyms and places where the sound system was designed for wrestling matches."

Fans get a much better show these days, Love said, and he means to prove his point Thursday when the Beach Boys perform at Odell Williamson Auditorium.

It's the legendary California surf band's first show in Southeastern North Carolina since their 1996 performance at the N.C. Azalea Festival, and it comes as the band follows up its triumphant 50th anniversary tour last year and the release of its 29th studio album, "That's Why God Made Radio."

Why did the Beach Boys become the first American rock band to survive half a century? For Love, one of the founding members, the "secret sauce" is in the harmonies.

"There have been lots of great singers, lots of great groups, lots of great songs," he said. "Getting the voices to blend, that was the real challenge."

Love remembers singing old Everly Brothers songs and doo-wop hits with his cousins Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson. The Wilsons' background in church and gospel music helped a lot, along with Brian Wilson's fascination with the elaborate harmonies of the Four Freshmen. (Brian Wilson played with the Beach Boys during a 50th anniversary tour last year, but he won't be at the Odell Williamson show.)

Of course, the little combo from Hawthorne, Calif., hit the beach at just the right time, Love said. They sang about surfing in the early '60s as teens on both coasts discovered the sport, and they sang about cars at the height of the automotive culture.

On the phone from Los Angeles – where he, the band and the crew were preparing to go to sometime-bandmate John Stamos' birthday party – Love talked about the band's favorite "sing-alongs." Audience favorites tend to be "Help Me, Rhonda," "Barbara Ann" and "Kokomo," which Love co-wrote.

He also reminisced about other songs such as "‘Warmth of the Sun,' which we wrote in the wee hours of the morning before we heard that President Kennedy had been taken to the hospital in Dallas."

Besides Love, the Beach Boys' touring component has changed over the years. Bruce Johnston stepped in on guitar in 1965 to replace Glenn Campbell, who had earlier stepped in when Brian Wilson stopped touring. Love's son Christian filled in on rhythm guitar for Carl Wilson, who died in 1998 of lung cancer.

John Cowsill, once the youngest member of the Cowsills, plays drums, and is a terrific singer, too, Love said. Bass player Randall Kirsch also fills in on Brian Wilson's high vocal parts, "and I think he does them as good as Brian," Love said.